Locals Fight Morgan Run Plan

Md. Firm Wants to Build in the Cheat Lake Area

A Maryland firm is gambling that it can turn Morgans Run
backwater into the newest prestige residential area along Cheat
Lake.

But that gamble may not go far.

Groups that played an integral part in the development of
nearby Cheat Lake Park and Trail, along the northeast shore of
the lake, are filing protests.

Wednesday, they got the Monongalia County Commission to join
them.

Kitty Lozier, with the League of Women Voters of
Morgantown-Monongalia County, told commissioners that Sure
Ventures LLC of McHenry, Md., wants to put 68, maybe 132 houses
on the upper end of Morgans Run, along with 100 boat docks and a
public launching ramp.

"It is our understanding that if more than 10 docks are
allowed, the request must also go to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission," she said.

Cheat Lake is created by Allegheny Energy's Lake Lynn
Hydropower dam, and FERC regulates hydropower facilities. The
park and trail were developed as the result of FERC requirements.
Morgans Run backwater is a finger off Cheat Lake at the park
head.

Sure Ventures bought 116.4 acres along Morgans Run Road
between Fletcher Chapel and the park entrance. The bulk of the
land is on the northeast side of the road.

"The League is concerned that any development on Morgans
Run be totally in concert with the recreation plan and not
detract from or destroy the value that has been developed for the
public at Cheat Lake Park and Trail," she said.

Several specific concerns about Morgans Run were mentioned: It
is now a prime fishing area for the park, it is included in the
recreation plan, it is in the no-wake zone, it's the possible
location for a public swimming areas, and the access road is
woefully inadequate.

Commissioners came up with an additional issue -- that area
does not have public water or sewer service. Lozier said the
developer proposes a package sewage treatment plant.

Commissioner Asel Kennedy noted that the water service to the
park is a privately-owned water line that's not adequate to
handle a larger demand. It runs from Pennsylvania.

Commissioner Bob Bell questioned whether the developer could
put a package plant in at that site in light of environmental
restrictions.

And a public boat launching area requires twice the number of
parking spaces as a lot because room is needed to park trailers,
he added.

Morgans Run Road drew particular comment. The narrow,
sometimes one-lane road, bobs and weaves its way from W.Va. 857
to the backwater, then loops around to Pennsylvania. When the
park was developed, residents along that road were concerned that
park traffic would damage the surface.

Another objection to the project comes from Cheat Lake
Environment and Recreation Association (CLEAR), a group of Cheat
area residents.

Duane Nichols wrote in an e-mail that trees on the site are
being cleared. He said plans apparently include a boat house, a
commercial vendors building, toilet facilities and facilities to
dispense gasoline in addition to a parking lot.

The three floating piers with 100 boat slips would require
dredging 3,800 cubic yards of material from an area about 75 feet
by 240 feet to be useful, he said.

Permits for the project were applied for in December.

"This backwater and the entire Cheat Lake in general are
already at or near capacity in terms of number of marinas, number
of boat slips, and number of boat users on weekends and
holidays," he wrote.

As part of the recreation plan, Allegheny Energy built two
public boat ramps -- one at Sunset Beach for powered boats; one
at the park for kayaks, canoes and similar boats.

CLEAR also had a list of concerns:

* Dredging would disturb natural fish and aquatic habitat.

* Waste waters and sewer waters would increase pollution at
the lake.

* This is where CLEAR has proposed a swimming beach.

* Increased boat and jet ski traffic would enter the lake not
far from the park headquarters, interfering with the recreational
activities.

* Increased traffic would lead to delays and unsafe conditions
on Morgans Run Road.

* Limited staff means limited enforcement of boating laws.

* Boat traffic on Cheat Lake is so intense that former lake
users won't return. Allegheny Energy has limited boat slips
around the lake.

* Four marinas provide access directly to the lake as well as
slips for 500 boats. Allegheny Energy leases out another 240
slips around the lake, and has a waiting list of people.

"CLEAR believes that the proposed Sure Ventures project
in its present form with its proposed marina in the Morgan Run
backwater, is incompatible with the existing 'recreation plan'
for Cheat Lake," he wrote.

To make it happen, he said, the project would need to be
modified to meet the exiting Cheat Lake "recreation
plan" and Morgans Run Road would need to be upgraded.